Sardinia: Ford World Rally Team - PreviewAs the FIA World Rally Championship approaches the halfway point, reigning champion and current leader BP-Ford faces what most regard as two of the toughest events of the season in just three weekends.
Round seven of the
16-event series takes the team to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia for Rally d'Italia Sardegna (17 - 20 May), a gravel rally which ranks among the most abrasive and demanding of the year.
Following the disappearance of Cyprus and Turkey from the 2007 calendar, Rally d'Italia Sardegna and next month's Acropolis Rally of Greece are the only Mediterranean gravel events this year and both have a reputation for being hard.
In Sardinia a fine sandy surface masks a hard base beneath and once the early starters have swept the loose gravel away, the rocky roads combine with relatively high spring temperatures to demand strong durability from BP-Ford's BFGoodrich tyres.
Although the rally has been a WRC round for the past three seasons, BP-Ford drivers Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen and team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen cannot say they know the speed tests well. Organisers change much of the route annually and for the third successive year more than half of this year's special stages will be new. However, the characteristics of the roads are familiar to both drivers as the island is regularly used as a test location by the team.
The coastal resort of Porto Cervo, one of Europe's most exclusive holiday resorts, will once again host both the start and finish ceremonies.
While the base remains in the industrial town of Olbia, in the Costa Smeralda region in the north of the island, organisers have again made big changes to the route.
Fifty-two per cent of the competitive distance is new, including more than half the opening leg and all the final day. All three legs comprise three stages used twice and the 18 stages cover 342.86km in a route of 1061.84km.
The opening leg is the longest and covers traditional territory south of Olbia in the Nuoro region. The second leg is essentially the same as 2006, covering more inland tests in Gallura and including the spectacular 'camel humps' jump on the Monte Lerno stage. The final day heads west and north of Olbia for tests around Tempio Pausania and Arzachena.
The stages contain a mix of narrow, twisty roads and more flowing tracks. While organisers have removed many of the roughest roads from the itinerary, there are still enough there to demand strength and reliability from the team's Ford Focus RS World Rally Cars.
After extending its lead in the manufacturers' championship on the last round in Argentina, BP-Ford goes to Sardinia with a nine-point advantage.
Source Ford World Rally Team
